IS it really possible that people in Clackmannanshire are twice as likely to deserve to have their benefits stopped as those living in North Ayrshire? Every month?
Of course, that would not only be unlikely, it would be almost impossible.
Yet that is what we are expected to believe, according to a report by the New Policy Institute which lays bare the appalling lottery to which those who rely on benefits are subjected to in Scotland today.
The report shows that the rules governing benefit sanctions are applied in different ways in different parts of the country. What could possibly justify such differences other than random chance?
This is just the latest in a number of controversies surrounding the Department of Work and Pensions and its enthusiasm for what can only be described as a war against the poor.
We now know that Jobcentre Plus staff are forced to meet targets for the number of claimants whose benefits they sanction.
And we know that the DWP knows full well the possible effects of sanctions which leave the most vulnerable members of our society without money for food, or electricity or even for shelter.
We know that because our sister newspaper the Sunday Herald reported that they are training call centre staff dealing with sanctions how to deal with suicide threats.
We should be in no doubt that benefit sanctions and the way in which they are being imposed is NOT a response to a financial crisis but part of a political ideology to punish those who can least stand up for themselves.
We should be under no illusion over the catastrophic consequences for those at the receiving end of the DWP’s unjust and immoral practices.
The Scottish Government is right to call for an immediate halt to such sanctions until the policies being adopted by the DWP can be investigated.
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